LAST TWEETS

SITE MAP

The STS-134 launch delay due to a heater issue with the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) and the at least 72 hours scrub won’t have any consequence on AMS-02 scheduled operations. The experiment will remain switched off till the new launch and AMS-02 team shifts at Houston for the control activities will be rearranged. A Sunday NASA technical meeting is foreseen in order to decide if Monday, May 2nd at 2:33 p.m. EDT would be a suitable date for the launch.

With the concerns about an U.S. government shutdown removed, the flow at the launch pad is now proceeding as scheduled for a 29th April launch. All the operations are now focused to the launch countdown preparations. Last Friday, the AMS-02 off line test was completed and the experiment powered off: it should not be powered up again until 2.30 hours after the liftoff, when the power will be activated to operate the experiment thermal control system during the orbital approach

STS-134 launch has been postponed to April the 29th at 3:47 p.m. EDT due to a scheduling conflict with a Russian Progress. In the meanwhile, the inspection team determined that no repair is needed to the external fuel tank after the storms that hit Cape Canaveral area last week. The Flight Readiness Review has been rescheduled on the April 19th, when NASA launch managers will select an official launch date. Anyway, from Saturday March 26th AMS-02 is ready in the

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for antimatter, dark matter while performing precision measurements of cosmic rays composition and flux. The AMS-02 observations will help answer fundamental questions, such as "What makes up the universe's invisible mass?" or "What happened to the primordial antimatter?"